The nightmare of a nuclear catastrophe returns to Ukraine with the risk of an accident occurring at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, occupied by the Russians shortly after the start of the invasion two years ago. In fact, in the last 24 hours the plant was attacked by several drones, one of which in particular impacted the containment structure of reactor number 6, fortunately without causing critical damage. Moscow and Kiev are shifting responsibilities but the head of the International Atomic Agency (IAEA) Rafael Grossi has not made any concessions to anyone: the “reckless attacks” on the plant “significantly increase the risk of a serious nuclear accident and must stop immediately”. This is “a planned, very serious military action”, the first since November 2022, Grossi further denounced. The damage “is serious, communications installations and surveillance equipment were targeted.” The concern of the international community is unanimous: Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, among others, has warned that “a free zone must be created around the plant” and that another Chernobyl must be “avoided”.
Moscow denounced that “the responsibility for the attacks”, defined as “terrorist”, and any consequences “fall entirely on the countries that help Ukraine”. Kiev returned the message: “Russia is intensifying a campaign of provocations and falsehoods,” one official said, accusing the Russians of attacking the site “pretending that the threat comes from Ukraine.” The IAEA confirmed that the main containment structures of the plant's reactors had suffered at least three direct attacks on Sunday. A drone, as noted by the agency's team of experts who have been monitoring the situation on the ground for months, hit a truck parked near a canteen. Blood on the ground, a sign that the attack caused at least one victim. In the last few hours another kamikaze drone was shot down in flight, with the fragments falling on the roof of reactor number 6.
«The radiation level is unchanged. No one was injured,” said a plant manager. The plant is the largest in Europe, among the top ten in the world, an accident could have consequences never seen since the beginning of the nuclear age. The six reactors have all been shut down since the beginning of the conflict, but the plant is not completely offline: number 4 is in fact kept in a state of hot shutdown because it also supplies energy to the nearby city of Enerhodar, where the Russian flag flies. With the end of the winter season it is no longer necessary to provide energy for heating and the IAEA is pushing for cold shutdown of the reactor, a procedure that guarantees greater safety.
Throughout the area, the UN atomic agency team reports, renewed military activity has been perceived for at least ten days, with automatic weapons and artillery shots ringing out in the distance. The Russians, the Ukrainian authorities denounce, have returned today to target an industrial plant and a district in the city of Zaporizhzhia, tens of kilometers north of the power plant, firmly in Ukrainian hands. The toll is three dead and several injured. The US think tank Institute for the Study of War meanwhile he warns that Russian troops are accelerating offensive operations along the entire front line, with the Ukrainians increasingly struggling with a shortage of ammunition. As if that weren't enough, Kiev reports that in recent weeks Russia has hit “up to 80%” of conventional power plants and half of hydroelectric plants “in the heaviest attacks since the beginning of the war.” And in this war scenario which appears increasingly critical, the commander of the Ukrainian ground forces Alexander Pavlyuk has appealed for enlistment “because the fate of the country is at stake”.
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